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Monday, September 27, 2010

Around the Farm

Pokeweed is a nasty weed which I am constantly fighting. At this time of year it is so unbelievably beautiful. You can read all about the many uses for it here. I never knew it was so toxic. The sheep know because they never eat it. Me, I just want to knit this photo! And I will one day.

The ewes have been grazing up the road most of the summer. Can you see how brown the pasture is? You've probably heard about the lack of rain here on the east coast. I have been so nervous we are going to run out of water. It is just one of those things and you put up with it having a well. My brother-in-law David (the Other Farmer - he makes milk) ran out of water last week. Dairy cattle need a lot of water daily so he is driving to a pond at a neighbor's house that is spring fed and pumping water a few times a day to give to his cows. Today and tomorrow it is supposed to rain but we are so behind on the water that two days will help a little but not much. My Farmer is filling up his water tank and delivering the water from a local pond that still has water to the ewes out in the field.

The lambs have been in the pasture right outside our house for most of the summer. They really are growing, aren't they? Tonight we have to separate the largest ram lambs to take to the processor on Wednesday morning. Should be fun in the rain. The dogs will have a good time because they will be doing some real work. Rain or not, they live to work. And by the way, if you want a lamb for your freezer, I am taking orders now. Information is over here on our Leyden Glen Lamb website. I will most likely be coming to the Boston area sometime before Christmas so I can arrange a "lamb meat-up." You can also take a drive and pick it up here at the farm. Lamb meat is always available in our "lamb shack."

The colors here in New England are turning gold and red at an alarming rate. Color usually peaks around Columbus Day but it looks like this year we will be at full color this weekend. My guests for the last "Getting Stitched on the Farm" Class of 2010 are very lucky considering many are coming from parts of the country where there isn't as much color.

The sunflowers are still doing their thing. The hot weather has made for an amazing crop. I will really miss the daily picking of the field and filling the buckets for neighbors to buy and take home for their kitchen tables. I'm also going to miss having vases around the house overstuffed with sunflowers. But I must admit, I am really looking forward to a little downtime, nesting in our cosy house, knitting, getting my studio up and going, and possibly getting my feet clean again. It has been months since I have been able to get them squeaky clean.

/Users/mjmartinek/Desktop/pokeweed yarn and pumpkin.jpgI hope you can see this picture I have sent you. My little sister lives in New Hampshire and this summer has been dyeing yarn with plants from her garden so when I saw that you had blogged about pokeweed i had to try to send you this photo. she has hollowed out a pumpkin and mashed up poke berries inside and added yarn. she is getting some pretty amazing colors and the kids thing the whole process looks pretty gruesome with the purple juice running down the side of the pumpkin. I would love to try this too but unfortunately i haven't found any poke weed yet.

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All words and photos are copyright by Kristin Nicholas. Please do not use my original photos or reprint my writing without asking me for permission. Please make sure you credit me as Photographer and link back to this blog. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to e-mail me - my contact info is on the left sidebar. Thank you!